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Ryan Xu, 5, reads a book at Palo Alto s temporary library at the Cubberley Community Center auditorium on Monday, June 28, 2010. The temporary library opened Monday to provide relief to the city s main library, which has seen an increase in visitors since the downtown and College Terrace branches recently closed for renovations. (Kirstina Sangsahachart / Daily News)

Liam Xu, 7, reads a book at Palo Alto s temporary library at the Cubberley Community Center auditorium on Monday, June 28, 2010. The temporary library opened Monday to provide relief to the city s main library, which has seen an increase in visitors since the downtown and College Terrace branches recently closed for renovations. (Kirstina Sangsahachart / Daily News)

Masaru Hartman uses a computer at Palo Alto s temporary library at the Cubberley Community Center auditorium on Monday, June 28, 2010. The temporary library opened Monday to provide relief to the city s main library, which has seen an increase in visitors since the downtown and College Terrace branches recently closed for renovations. (Kirstina Sangsahachart / Daily News)

Alice Kwan looks at books inside Palo Alto s temporary library at the Cubberley Community Center auditorium in Palo Alto on Monday, June 28, 2010. The temporary library opened Monday to provide relief to the city s main library, which has seen an increase in visitors since the downtown and College Terrace branches recently closed for renovations. (Kirstina Sangsahachart / Daily News)

Books sit on the shelf of the Palo Alto temporary library at the Cubberley Community Center auditorium on Monday, June 28, 2010. The temporary library opened Monday to provide relief to the city s main library, which has seen an increase in visitors since the downtown and College Terrace branches recently closed for renovations. (Kirstina Sangsahachart / Daily News)

A temporary library opened Monday at Palo Alto’s Cubberley Community Center Auditorium to provide some relief to the city’s main library, which has been swamped with visitors since two popular branches recently closed for renovations.

The temporary location at 4050 Middlefield Road hosts about 75 percent of the Mitchell Park branch library collection, including books, DVDs and compact discs, and also features wireless Internet, desktop computers and technical services.

“We tried to have the cream of the crop at the temporary library,” library director Diane Jennings said of the collection.

When the Mitchell Park branch closed earlier this month, it joined the downtown and College Terrace branches, which are also closed for renovations, leaving only the main and children’s branches open. Jennings said that over the past few weeks the city’s main library has been seeing more visitors and that the lines of people seeking help from professional staff have been growing longer.

RuthAnn Garcia, supervising librarian at the temporary branch, said Monday’s opening went well, noting there was a small crowd waiting to enter when the doors opened at 10 a.m. “There were a few kinks, but nothing major,” she said of the opening.

When the Mitchell Park branch reopens in the summer or fall of 2012, it will include a multipurpose event room, a technology center, and group study rooms and classrooms, among other features. Renovations for the new Mitchell Park Library and Community Center are being funded by Measure N, a $76 million bond measure that passed on Nov. 4, 2008. In addition to construction of the new Mitchell Park branch, the measure provides funding for renovation of the downtown branch and expansion of the main library.

On Monday night, the city council approved a $2.5 million contract with Portland, Maine-based W. L. Construction Inc. for construction of improvements to the downtown library, and up to $375,000 more for related unforeseen work that may develop during the project.

The council also approved an approximately $312,000 construction administration services contract with South San Francisco-based Group 4 architecture and a $432,000 construction management services contract with New York-based Turner Construction Inc. Hazardous materials have been removed, clearing the way for construction, Jennings said. That library is expected to open in the summer of 2011.

The College Terrace library closed last July and is expected to open sometime this fall.

The Mitchell Park temporary location will be open Monday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday, noon to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

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